Did God create Lucifer to fall?

Question

Gramps,

Lehi in The Book Of Mormon explains to us that there must be opposition in all things. That there must be righteous influence as well as wicked influence. I know we all had agency in the pre-mortal realm and we still do on this earth. However, since God had to have someone provide for the wicked influence on the earth, I’m under the assumption God created Lucifer in such a way that He knew Lucifer would rebel when not selected as the savior. Not a coincidence.

Dan

Answer

Dear Dan,

Thank you for your question!

Not much is written on this subject. However, I tend to think that God did not create Lucifer to fail. A key principle the Lord operates by is moral agency. In 2nd Nephi 2:27, it is written that “men are free according to the flesh . . . they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.” If there is no such thing as “predestination” for mankind, why would it be any different for Lucifer, who, had he kept his first estate, would have been a human as well?

I am not aware of any scriptures or teachings by General Authorities detailing what would have happened had Lucifer not rebelled. That knowledge has simply not been revealed, and any speculation on what would have happened would be just that – speculation!

I do, however, know that God loves each of us more than we can ever possibly imagine, and He wants nothing more than for His children to return to live with him someday. For that reason, I simply cannot believe that He would have created a spirit child with the intention of having that child fall.

If Lucifer would have kept his first estate we still would have evil influence in the world. We also learn in the Book of Mormon that the natural man is an enemy to God. Blaming evil on Lucifer takes away our own free agency. We don’t sin because there is a devil, we sin because we chose wrong. If there was no devil, when people came to earth they would chose wickedness and tempt each other to do the same due to our own nature.

Peter Constantine

Dan, did you ever consider that The Father structured The Plan understanding that someone would inevitably choose to rebel? I know that the objectives of The Plan are eternal and unchanging but perhaps The Father has the autonomy to adapt the plan at the outset to accommodate the inevitable dynamic variables that will arise when unique individuals exercise their Free Agency. Food for thought.

My personal belief from having chewed down to the bone on this question as much as possible is that at the time of the spiritual creation of each of His spirit children, all had the potential to attain Celestial Glory. At that time we were granted the Three Great Gifts (Agency, Embodiment, and Time) in a similar fashion to mortal entry. I believe that Lucifer had just as much choice to align his will with The Fathers as any of us, but through a pre-mortal lifelong process he developed an ego and a following. Nothing in our doctrine indicates that in the pre-mortal realm WE had foreknowledge or omniscience, therefore all had the ability to choose and develop in alignment with The Father…or not. I believe it is entirely possible and highly probable that The Father did all he could without violating Agency or other eternal laws to reclaim His fallen children, but to no avail. We’ve seen this in mortality; malcontents, protesters, militants, and terrorists who will destroy the whole world in their attempt to find justification in trying to remake the world in the image that most suits their selfish desires and lusts for power. “What has happened before will happen again.”

Heavenly Father created Lucifer, The Morning Star, The Shining One, Lightbringer, and Son of The Morning. Lucifer created Satan, The Adversary, The Accuser, The Prince of Devils, The Father of Lies and Rebellion.

-P

Jennifer Ridge Schlaline

“Heavenly Father created Lucifer, The Morning Star, The Shining One, Lightbringer, and Son of The Morning. Lucifer created Satan, The Adversary, The Accuser, The Prince of Devils, The Father of Lies and Rebellion.”

The quote above… Is brilliant! This is teaching at its finest Peter Constantine. You have assuredly enlightened more than just I, with these 2 sentences above. So simple, yet brilliant. Thank you!

This website is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. The views expressed by individual users are the responsibility of those users and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. For the official Church websites, please visit LDS.org or Mormon.org.